Robbie and I woke up Thursday morning, September 20 and got ready for our 37 week doctor's appointment. I had put pork carnitas in the Crock Pot before we left because the BYU football game was that night and we always like to eat a good meal and watch the game. Robbie was ready to go to straight to work after the appointment and I was going to go up to my in-laws' house to stay cool in their air conditioned house and hang out, so we drove separate cars. Our appointment was scheduled for 9:45 AM and the doctor checked to see if I was dialating. He asked me, "Are you sure you haven't had any major contractions?" I hadn't felt any labor contractions or pain (just the regular Braxton Hicks contractions), but apparently I was dialated to a 7 or 8! Our doctor looked over at Robbie and said, "Are you going to work today or are you going to have a baby?" We looked at each other completely surprised and said, "Well, I guess we are going to have a baby!"
We walked across the street to the hospital, and as we walked we were laughing at the whole situation and trying to figure everything out. We called our moms and let them know we were heading into the hospital. Once we reached the hospital, they wheeled me up to the labor and delivery floor and I got all checked in. Everyone was amazed that I was that far into labor, but I think I was the one most surprised! Once we signed all the paperwork, they took me into our delivery room, hooked me up to all the monitors, and put an IV in me. By this time it was around 11:00 AM. My nurse, who was so fantastic!, didn't believe that I could be that far dialated so she checked me again... and I was definitely dialated to a 7 or 8. So while we were waiting for me to get fully dialated we tried to figure everything out... our hospital bag, including our video camera and snap-shot camera, was back at our apartment, so we called my friend Kayla to ask her to go to our apartment to get it and bring it to us. Robbie informed his team that he would not be coming in to work, and his mom was able to come down to the hospital. And I got to Skype with my mom. We were planning on having her come out for the birth, but it all just happened too fast!
Skyping with Mom!
Around noon, I started to feel the contractions, but wasn't in any pain. Robbie and his mom got some lunch at the hospital cafeteria and the nurses went on their lunch break shortly after. Once the nurses came back, they called the doctor in and he broke my water and the anesthesiologist gave me the epidural. Over the next hour I could feel the contractions getting stronger and stronger and was glad to have had the epidural!
Feeling good after the epidural!
Around 2:00 PM the nurse checked me again and I was fully dialated! We did a couple of practice pushes and waited for the contractions to get more intense. A little while later we were ready to start pushing! Robbie was a little worried that he would be squeemish with the whole birthing thing, and if you ever want to see how good Robbie is at the breathing exercises while pushing, just ask him! :) They called the doctor in and about four pushes later he was here! They immediately put him on my chest and he started crying! He came out a healthy little boy.
Our First Family Photo!
I have had a lot of comments about how I looked after giving birth... all I have to say is he came so fast that I didn't have time to get the full "being in labor" look! If you saw me during my recovery days, you wouldn't doubt that I had a baby. :)
We were able to take our little guy home Saturday morning. And because I had cooked dinner in the Crock Pot the day he was born, we were able to eat that for dinner that night. Robbie likes to joke that I gave birth to our child and made dinner all in the same day! What can I say, I'm pretty talented. :)
Well, that was quite the story. It happened all so fast that we didn't have time to worry about everything, which both of us were happy about. We are so blessed that even though we was a little early, he is completely healthy. He is such a joy in our lives and we love him so much!!
Congratulations! What a great story. He's so adorable!
ReplyDeleteGlad everything went so well. You're lucky you had a Dr's apt that day. It would have made for an interesting afternoon had you not :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jess! I'm so happy everything went so smoothly for you. My delivery went pretty much the same way - doctor's appointment that morning, then we got sent over to the hospital and had a baby by early afternoon :)
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